Between 2005 and 2025: The Israeli Disengagement from Gaza, 20 years Later
Between 2005 and 2025: The Israeli Disengagement from Gaza, 20 years Later
During the year leading to Hamas’ terror attack on October 7, 2023, Israel witnessed the largest and most widespread protest movement in its history, against the Netanyahu government's judicial reform or overhaul. When supporters of Netanyahu’s efforts were challenged about the risk to individual liberties and minority rights, a common answer was, “Where were you during the Disengagement?”
This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the Israeli unilateral Disengagement from the Gaza Strip—an event that has since reverberated through Israeli society and politics. The disengagement from Gaza gradually became a focal point of collective memory, political myth-making, and national debate. This process intensified after the October 7th Hamas attack and the ensuing conflict. Today, the disengagement is invoked by politicians and commentators as the primary cause or facilitator of the Hamas attack. The lecture will examine the narrative of the Gaza disengagement and determine the facts on which it is founded, as well as those that it conceals. The speaker will address the enduring myths and distortions of memory surrounding the disengagement from Gaza, contrasting them with the complex realities of the early 2000s: the motivations behind the withdrawal, the hopes and fears it unleashed, and its immediate and long-term consequences.
Arnon Degani is a historian specializing in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. He earned his PhD in history from UCLA. His doctoral research, currently under contract for publication as Our Arabs, examines the everyday lives of Arab citizens of Israel under the military government between 1948 and 1966. He is currently a Fellow at the Avraham Harman Research Center for Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a Research Fellow at Molad, The Center for the Renewal of Israeli Democracy. Dr. Degani is also the writer and host of the "Oslo Podcast,” with its latest season focusing on the relationship between Israel and the Gaza Strip.